Free Republic

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has formally terminated the service of every member sitting on the Department of Defense’s advisory committees. Based on the information available on the website as of Thursday, the now-defunct panels included several well-known Democrats and Bush-era Republicans. Janine Davidson (Chair) – Former Under Secretary of the Navy under Obama. A staunch Democrat and longtime proponent of Obama-era military reforms, now steering Pentagon policy advice. Michèle Flournoy – Held major Pentagon roles under Clinton and Obama; often discussed as a potential Secretary of Defense under Hillary Clinton or Biden. Colin Kahl – National Security Advisor to...

The Trump administration, which has made clear that it aims to slash government spending, is preparing to unveil a budget proposal as soon as next week that includes draconian cuts that would entirely eliminate some federal programs and fray the nation’s social safety net. The proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year would cut billions of dollars from programs that support child care, health research, education, housing assistance, community development and the elderly, according to preliminary documents reviewed by The New York Times. The proposal, which is being finalized by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, also targets...

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that Ukraine must be allowed to decide the terms of any peace deal with Russia in a challenge to proposals by Donald Trump. The Prime Minister contradicted Mr Trump by saying that the “courageous” Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, was not to blame for the failure to strike an agreement ending the war. Sir Keir also refused to back US plans to formally recognise Crimea as Russian in any negotiated settlement with Vladimir Putin, and demanded that Moscow agree to an “unconditional ceasefire”.

25 April 2025 Easter FridaySt. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, San Antonio, Texas Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 4:1-12The name of Jesus Christ is the only one by which we can be savedWhile Peter and John were talking to the people the priests came up to them, accompanied by the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees. They were extremely annoyed at their teaching the people the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They arrested them, but as it was already late, they held them till the next day....

"May their father be cursed," sneered Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, mocking the United States in a televised speech. This crude insult wasn't a one-off—Abbas repeated it and was met with laughter and applause by the audience. It takes some nerve for Abbas to say something like that, after the Palestinians have received over $2.1 billion in American taxpayer-funded aid just since October 7, 2023. In the speech, which was broadcast on official PA television, Abbas did not just curse but openly ridiculed the US, boasting about his repeated defiance of American leaders and policies: "33 times I told them...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine could not accept US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea as he visited South Africa, while both he and Donald Trump criticised a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv. Though he did not mention Crimea – the contested Black Sea peninsula occupied by Russia since spring 2014 – by name, Ukraine’s president diplomatically returned to the topic a day after Trump accused him of intransigence on the issue.

PASSAIC, N.J. (AP) — Alleged gang members without criminal records wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.International students detained by masked federal agents for writing opinion columns or attending campus demonstrations. American citizens, visa holders and visitors stopped at airports, detained for days or facing deportation for minor infractions.Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. But unlike in his first term, Trump’s efforts have not sparked the kind of widespread condemnation...

President Donald Trump defended his use of the power that comes with the presidential office, denying that he is “expanding” it while maintaining that he is “using it properly” in an interview on his first 100 days as the 47th president with TIME. Trump, who will have served 100 days of his second term on April 30, gave the extensive, bombshell interview to the outlet from the White House on Wednesday. The interview started off with a pointed question from TIME senior political correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs, who asked, “Why do you think you need more power?”...

The experience of Catholicism today does not resemble the descriptions of previous generations. Catholics used to describe the faith as immutable. Some celebrated the comfort of changelessness, the sense that here was something truly eternal; haters lamented the blockheaded institutional obstinacy. Now the experience is transience, not intransigence. Half the parishes are gone, the greatest transience of all. The rest swing like pendula between liberal and conservative. The parish my mom attended had a pastor who liked all the liberal trappings: ad-lib consecration, applause during Mass, goofball sermons with lots of laughs, the usual. Then came a conservative pastor who...

The last of three friends accused of killing a driver in Colorado by throwing a rock through the windshield of her car was convicted of first-degree murder Friday. The teens were driving around suburban Denver in 2023, throwing rocks at passing cars, when one struck and killed 20-year-old Alexa Bartell in a crime prosecutors classified as murder. ... On April 19, 2023, after seeing Bartell’s car leave the road after being hit, the three friends circled back a few times to look again, according to testimony and investigators. One of them, Kwak, took a photo as a memento, but no...

April 25 (UPI) -- Russian Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov said the Kremlin was "ready to reach a deal" to end the war with Ukraine.Lavrov told CBS News on Thursday in an interview that U.S. President Donald Trump "believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction," adding that Trump's optimism that progress was being made in efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict was founded in fact.

Sergey Naryshkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said he held a phone call with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and hinted at a forthcoming face-to-face meeting sometime soon. Speaking to Russian state media TASS, Naryshkin said “I had a telephone conversation with my colleague, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]. It was a very constructive conversation. So I do not rule out the possibility of a meeting in the near future.”

The radicalized son of a CIA director was killed last year while allegedly fighting for Russia in Ukraine, according to a new investigation. Michael Alexander Gloss, the 21-year-old son of the CIA’s Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Julianne Gallina Gloss and a Navy veteran father, was killed on the front lines after enlisting in the Russian army, according to a lengthy investigation by independent Russian outlet Important Stories. Gloss’ obituary said his “fiercely beautiful life … was taken from us during his travels overseas” on April 4, 2024, without detailing exactly how “With his noble heart and warrior spirit Michael...

Despite having billions to spend and a network of influential nonprofits, Alex Soros, son of George Soros, doesn’t have what it takes to continue his father’s decades-long impact on the worldwide political landscape. That is the conclusion of an unflattering New York Magazine profile on the 39-year-old Soros who has taken up the helm of his 94-year-old father’s “philanthropic network,” the Open Society Foundations (OSF.) “The real story is that every single person who knows the family knows that Alex was exactly the wrong person to lead the foundation,” the New York Magazine profile on Alex Soros, published Tuesday, reads,...

The word, "Cardinal" doesn't go before the first name, it goes before the last name. See, when you call Donald Trump, "President Donald Trump," you're still calling him by his name. You're just adding a title to say what's significant about him. ("Yes, THAT Donald Trump!") You're simply substituting the word, "Mr." It's really grammatically no different than Sheriff John Smith or Coach Harry Brown or Pvt. David Jones. And some day, we'll talk about former president Donald Trump or Sgt. David Jones or retired Gen. Pete Williams. A Cardinal or a Lord will always be a Cardinal or a...

PLANO, Texas — Before there were any maps or renderings, EPIC City was just an idea by Imran Chaudhary and a colleague. It was their answer to a growing problem, literally. “Plano is getting filled up. There is no space left.” Chaudhary said. With 10,000 members and counting, the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) was outgrowing its ability to serve local area Muslims. Chaudhary tells WFAA they purchased 402 acres near Josephine to build EPIC City — a master-planned community featuring homes, retail, a mosque, a school, and even a hospital.

Lockheed bets on F-35 upgrades to remain relevant in an airpower race with China that favors revolution over evolution US F-35 in a file photo. Image: US Air Force Bested at the next-generation US fighter competition, Lockheed Martin is betting big on turning the F-35 into a “fifth-gen-plus” fighter — retrofitting tomorrow’s tech into yesterday’s jet to stay in the game. This month, multiple media sources reported that Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet announced that the defense giant will not challenge the US Air Force’s decision to award the US$20 billion Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter contract to rival...

A Russian satellite believed to be part of Moscow’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon program appears to be malfunctioning, with erratic movements suggesting it may no longer be operational. The development could be a major blow to Russia’s military space ambitions, US analysts said. Cosmos 2553 was launched just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Over the past year, it has shown signs of uncontrolled tumbling, according to radar data from LeoLabs and optical tracking shared by Slingshot Aerospace with Reuters. The satellite is believed to serve as both a radar tool for intelligence gathering and a platform for radiation testing....

Yusuf Said Abu Durra (Arabic: يوسف سعيد أبو درة) was an Arab Muslim jihad gand leader during the terror campaign of 1936-1939. Abu Durra was a close disciple of the Muslim preacher Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. He was eliminated in 1940 by the BritishLetter to HitlerOn December 23, 1938, Abu Durra appealed to Nazi Germany for assistance, addressing a letter to "Adolf Hitler, the great Führer of Germany, who has brought his nation eternal honor and glory." Mallmann, K., Cüppers, M. (2010). Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine. United Kingdom: Enigma Books, p.41Great German Führer,...

The U.S. Army’s newest long-range hypersonic weapon will be called “Dark Eagle” the Pentagon announced Thursday after a successful test flight. The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that travel 3,800 miles per hour with a range of 1,725 miles. They can reach the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and “remain just beyond the range of air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike, and by then it’s too late to react,” according to Army statements in a March 2023 Congressional Research Service report. In December, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office,...